


Set Fire to the Rain

by simplyn2deep



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 30dayfic, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, M/M, tumblr writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-07 05:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 12,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3162776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyn2deep/pseuds/simplyn2deep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>But there's a side to you that I never knew. All the things you'd say, they were never true. And the games you'd play, you would always win. But I set fire to the rain.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>------</p><p>Or the one where someone ends up with a broken heart and shattered faith in the one they love the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Time

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not one for quoting/using lyrics as the summary, but this really fits what I have in mind.
> 
> This is written for the [30dayfic challenge](http://30dayfic.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.
> 
>  
> 
> **About the challenge**
> 
>  
> 
> _The curveball fic challenge--sign up to write one fic, and each day you'll get a word or element that has to be included in that day's writing. Post your fic as you go along on tumblr, AO3, LJ or wherever, so everyone can follow your progress._  
> 

Danny glanced at his watch for what had to be the hundredth time, yet only seconds or minutes had passed. Time it seemed was going slower.

_A watched pot never boils._

He looked from his watched to the board in front of him. That too hadn’t changed it’s message.

_American Airlines Flight 237 Los Angeles to Honolulu------Delayed_

Sighing, he attempted to get comfortable on the hard chair, and fight the urge to fidget. He didn’t want to piss off his companion, but he couldn’t stand waiting.

“If you move your arm again, I’m going to cut it off,” came the grumpy reply as he moved his arm to check his watch for the time. “Not even a minute has passed since the last time you looked.”

“Sorry,” Danny replied, suitably chastised. But he really wasn’t. Grace’s flight back from visiting with her grandparents was now two hours delayed and he didn’t want to risk not being here for when the plane landed.

“We can go back to the house, if you want?” Steve offered as he looked at Danny. “You know Mary or Matt will call us first thing when they find out when exactly they’ll be arriving.”

Danny bit his lip and looked back at his watch. “Just 30 more minutes. We’ll wait 30 more minutes and if the damned arrivals board hasn’t changed, we’ll go home.”


	2. Water

_“Detective Williams and Commander McGarrett, please report to the security office in the Administration Building,”_ a tinny voice said over the public address system.

Danny’s eyes snapped open and his head whipped around to look at Steve who was standing up and stretching. “What happened?” Danny demanded.

Steve raised and eyebrow and shrugged. “Why are you asking me?” he asked. “I’ve been sitting next to you for the last two hours.”

“What if,” Danny began, “there was a plane crash?” He quietly hissed the last part as to not draw further attention to themselves.

Steve shook his head. “No Danny. That absolutely did not happen. We won’t know what’s happened until we’ve gone to see why we’re being summoned.”

The message calling for Danny and Steve repeated. Steve pulled Danny up and led him to the the Administration building on the other side of the baggage claim section they were waiting in.

“Nothing ever good comes of being called to the security office,” Danny said. “Nothing.”

“It could be nothing,” Steve said. “It’s more than likely nothing. They probably got tired of seeing you being twitchy on the CCTV and want you to wait back here.”

Danny didn’t find Steve’s comment funny. Not at all, and showed him exactly how unfunny he thought the comment was by punching his left arm. Hard.

When they got to the Administration building, Steve pulled the door open for Danny to walk in first, and followed behind him.

"Can I help you?" a lady sitting at the receptionist desk asked.

"Where's your Security office?" Steve asked.

"Ahh, you must be Detective Williams and Commander McGarrett?" she asked. Danny and Steve nodded. The lady smiled, picked up a cordless phone, pressed a series of buttons and handed the phone to Steve. "There was an urgent message for you."

Steve's brow furrowed as he took the phone and put it to his ear. "This is Commander McGarrett."

"Thank god, Steve," the person on the other end of the line said. "I've been trying to reach you for the last twenty minutes."

"What's going on, Mary?" Steve asked. He said her name for Danny's benefit.

"The plane had to turn back to Los Angeles," Mary said. "We got about halfway there when the Captain said we had to turn back."

"So...where are you now?" Steve asked.

"We're with Aunt Deb and Leonard. I don't know when the flight is going to be rescheduled," Mary added.

Steve sighed and relayed the message to Danny.

"Give me the phone McGarrett," Danny demanded as he took the phone from Steve. "Mary, what's going on?"

Mary sighed. "Exactly what I told Steve. I don't know what happened. We were over the Pacific ocean, there was a bit of turbulence, it was actually pretty bad, then we were turning to come back to Los Angeles. We'll be on the next flight out, but like I said, I don't know when that's going to be. I'm asking a couple of my flight attendant friends if I can at least get Grace on a flight out so that she's back with you." Mary paused and there was muffled talking in the background before Mary came back. "Look, I have to go. Grace and Joan are pulling me in different directions. Grace's phone is charging but she wanted me to tell you that she's okay and will call you when we finish lunch."

The call ended and Danny released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding until he heard Mary say that she was working on getting Grace back to him. He knew he didn't have to worry about anything happening to her while in Mary and Matt's care...Danny's thoughts stuttered to a halt.

"Did Mary mention anything to you about Matt when you talked to her?" Danny asked.

Steve took the phone back from Danny and handed it to the receptionist and thanked her.

"No, she didn't," Steve said. "Why?"

Danny shook his head some, his brow wrinkled in thought. "No reason. Come on. No use hanging around here since they aren't going to be back anytime soon."


	3. Tree

When Mary ended the call, she looked back at her daughter and Grace playing under the tree in Deb's backyard. She needed to buy herself some more time, but without getting her brother or Danny involved. She couldn't do that. She didn't want to do that.

"Did you get it all sorted?" Deb asked as she walked from the house to the covered patio with a plate of food.

Mary nodded her head. "Grace's grandparents arrive here later tonight. I managed to get all four of them on the first flight to Hawaii tomorrow morning."

Deb raised her eyebrow. "All four of them?" she asked. "You're not going with them?"

Mary shook her head. "I can't, Deb. Not until I figure out what's happened with Matt."

Placing the plate of food on the table, Deb pulled out a chair and sat next to Mary. "You never did tell me what happened? Why wasn't Matt on the plane when you left New Jersey."

"I don't know. It was just me, Grace and Joan at the hotel when I woke up. All of Matt's things were gone."

"And he didn't leave a note or anything?" Deb asked worriedly.

"He did, but I didn't see it until we'd gotten to the airport," Mary replied. "It was tucked in Joan's diaper bag and didn't give much of an explanation."

Deb was about to press Mary for more information when Grace called out for them.

"Aunties, look!" Grace exclaimed as she pointed towards the tree. "Joanie's walking more!"

**+=+**

Matt was in over his head. Again. Not as badly as the first time, but bad enough that he was more scared for Mary and Joan than he was for himself. Going to the FBI with the information he'd uncovered months earlier had been hard. even harder still was finally accepting to himself that he needed to be away from Mary and Joan in order to keep them safe. And who better to do that than their brothers?

"You've done the right thing, Mr. Williams," the first man in a suit said.

They were sitting in an open courtyard surrounded on three sides by trees with a twelve story, non-descript building on the fourth side.

"Coming to us with this information and agreeing to work with us is the smartest thing you've done," a second suited man added.

"I'm only doing this because you said you'd protect me and my family," Matt said with a glare.

The man in the suit nodded his head. "They will be protected. Your parents, siblings and their kids will all be protected."

"And Mary and Joan too," Matt demanded. "They need to be kept safe too."

The man in the suit nodded his head again. "Of course they do, Mr. Williams. We told you this before. Everyone you love will be kept safe while you're with us."

Matt took a fortifying breath, squared his shoulders and looked at the man sitting across the table from him. "Okay, what do you need me to do?


	4. Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should mention that for this story, Mary and Matt have been in a relationship for almost 5 years, having met while both were in Hawaii (Matt was there for longer than a couple of days - or however long it was supposed to have been). Joan, 18 months old, is their biological daughter and they are very much a jet-setting family, splitting their time between New Jersey/New York, Los Angeles and Hawaii. Also, while Matt did get on the wrong side of the law, he never ran off with the drug cartel.

After the excitement of Clara and Eddie surprising Grace and Joan, they had a family dinner, Leonard thoroughly delivered on the perfectly grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks, and were now winding down before bed. Or at least Mary was trying to get Joan to go to sleep so that she'd be less cranky in the early morning, thus more well behaved for her grandparents while they fly to Hawaii.

"Come on, Joanie," Mary pleaded. "You have to go to sleep."

"No!" Joan exclaimed as she wrestled away from Mary. "Want Daddy!"

"Daddy's not here, sweetheart," Mary replied softly.

Joan looked at Mary, her eyes an even mixture of both her parents, "Call, Daddy?"

Mary bit her lip. She'd been trying all day to get a hold of Matt, but without luck. Maybe this time would be different.

"How about this," Mary hedged, "we get your pjs on, you say goodnight to Grandma, Papa, and Auntie, and we'll try calling your dad again."

Mary knew that Joan didn't understand half of what she said, but it didn't matter much as the little girl was already darting from the room towards the room her grandparents were in. While Joan was busy with Clara and Eddie, she took the time to repack Joan's little suitcase. Once that was done, she made sure Joan's clothes for flight the next morning were ready, as well as her own clothes.

Twenty minutes later, Clara brought an already fast asleep Joan back to the room. "She wanted us to read her a story and knocked out after two pages," she said softly as she placed her granddaughter on the bed.

Mary sighed and reached over to brush some hair out of Joan's face. "Thank God. She's been fighting sleep for the last two hours."

"She wants to be up like everyone else, can you blame her?" Clara asked with a soft laugh. "Eddie's taking Grace to the room because she fell asleep with us too. And he's going to be complaining about his back for the next two weeks from carrying her."

Mary snorted. She'd known Eddie was a very hands on grandfather, having seen it several times over the course of her relationship with Matt.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence before Clara spoke again, "Deb tells me you're going back home?"

"Yeah, I am," Mary replied. She looked at her would-be mother in law, "Matt just left us at the hotel and hasn't returned any of my calls or even looked at any of the texts I've sent."

"What did his note to you say?" Clara gently asked.

Mary huffed and pulled the paper from her pocket and handed it over. "Something 'big' came up with work and he was needed back. He didn't know when he'd be able to join us, but he would call when he got the chance."

"You don't believe him?" Clara asked. She didn't bother to read the note, hearing it from Mary was enough for her.

"No," Mary said, her jaw clenched in anger. "The CFO of that damn company better be on his death bed or something to keep Matt from taking his vacation. He worked through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years!"


	5. Belief

After leaving the airport, Danny and Steve went back to their house. They'd taken the day off from work in anticipation of Grace returning, and Mary, Matt and Joan's two week visit, but plans changed and they wouldn't be in until the following morning. Steve and Danny decided they would go back to the office and catch up on paperwork.

"Detective Williams?" a young man in a uniform asked as he approached Steve and Danny.

"Yes?" Danny asked as he turned to face the man.

"I have a registered letter for you," the man said. He filled out the slip and handed Danny his board to sign for the letter.

Danny signed the slip and handed it back to the man. "Aloha," he replied as he accepted the slip and handed the padded envelope to Danny before walking away.

"What is it D?" Steve asked.

Danny's brow crinkled as he looked at it. There was no return address, but he recognized his brother's handwriting.

"It's a letter from Matt...," Danny said as he walked towards the house, already tearing into the envelope. He pulled out the letter and a small flash drive fell out as well. Steve bent down to pick it up while Danny read the letter out loud.

_Danny,  
I don't know how long it's going to take for you to get this letter, but I needed you to know something and do something for me._

_You're probably not going to see me for a while, a fact that Mary will probably be very pissed about, and won't be able to get in touch with me either, but I'm okay. I've stumbled on to something at the company I work at and it's not good. Without going into much detail, some very bad people are probably going to be after me, and if they can't get to me directly, they'll do whatever it takes to get to me._

_I'm sending you and Steve my most precious belongings to look after and keep safe - Mary and Joan. I know it goes without saying, but please keep them safe for me. If anything should happen to me, Mary or Joan, the contents of the flash drive need to be delivered, in person, to FBI Agent Enrico Mallone in New York._

_I have belief in you and Steve to keep Mary and Joan safe for me._

_I'll be in touch when I can._

_Matt_


	6. Knife

To say that they were shocked by Matt’s letter was an understatement.

“Do you believe it?” Danny asked out of the blue. “That the reason they aren't here right now is because of whatever is going on with Matt?”

“Do you really think they're capable of keeping something like this from us?” Steve asked. “You saw how well things turned out the last time Matt tried to keep something from you. It was probably Mary's threat to castrate him if he didn't take you up on your offer to help.”

Danny sighed. “I just don't get it. I know I call you a trouble magnet, but a second time in less than five years something's happened and he's had to go to the FBI about it.”

Steve couldn't disagree with that. It was odd that Matt was seemingly in trouble again and the solution to whatever trouble he was in was on the drive he sent with the letter.

“Yes,” Steve said after a beat of silence. “Yes I believe what he's said in the letter. Only he has to be stupid to think we're going to just sit here and do nothing about it.”

Steve sent a text to Kono, Chin and Lou telling them they wouldn’t be in the office after all, and that they would explain soon, then he turned his attention to Danny, who was reading the letter for a fourth time, while rolling the small drive across the knuckles of his hand.

Giving a frustrated sigh, Danny tossed the drive to the coffee table and put the letter on the cushion next to him.

“I just don't get this,” Danny repeated.

Steve knew it was only a matter of time before that would become a mantra of theirs while they tried to figure out what trouble Matt had gotten himself into.

“We need to eat,” Steve said abruptly. “It's almost dinner and the last time we ate was breakfast on the way to the airport.”

Nodding his head in agreement, Danny followed Steve to the kitchen where they pulled out some of the food they'd purchased in anticipation of Mary, Matt and Joan's arrival. Steve went to the lanai to heat up the grill while Danny pulled out the pre-marinated fish.

A few minutes later, Steve returned to get the fish, freeing up the counter for Danny to work on some mango salsa, a dish he was surprised he liked after learning to make it with Grace. Danny got lost in his thoughts, bouncing from worst case scenarios of something happening to Grace or Joan, to Matt going away to prison, to someone coming after him or Steve to get to Matt.

“How's the salsa coming?” Steve asked, sliding close behind Danny.

Danny jumped some, his heart thumping away in his chest like a jackknife. “Fucking hell, Steve!” Danny exclaimed as he swung around and pointed the sharp knife inches from Steve's face. “What have I told you about sneak up on me when I have potential weapons in my hands?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was harder than I thought it would be. I'm not entirely pleased with how it turned out. Tomorrow is a new day and a new word.


	7. Argument

The following morning, with Clara and Eddie in Deb's car and Mary, Joan and Grace in the rental Mary got the previous day, they were going back to the airport. The group said their goodbyes to Deb and Leonard and Eddie helped Mary get Joan's car seat out of the rental so that Mary could return it.

"We have about 3 hours until the flight," Mary said looking at her watch. "I should be back in about 45 minutes. You guys go on and check in and I'll catch up."

Mary had only told Deb and Clara of her intentions of going back to New Jersey to look for Matt, so she was mainly keeping that story in front of Eddie and Grace. However when Mary stepped off the shuttle at airline entrance, she saw Eddie waiting for her.

"You didn't have to wait for me, Pop," Mary said with a grin. "I would have met you guys at the gate."

Eddie looked at her, clearly not buying her story. "Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

Mary deflated a bit. "So, she told you." It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact. “Do I want to? No. I don’t want to go back and find Joan’s wayward father. We should both be on our way to Hawaii. I have to do this. I have to know where he is and that he's okay...and to give him hell for not answering his phone to talk to his daughter!" Mary finished with a yell and flinging her arms open wide.

Eddie moved closer to Mary and gently put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, you know he's okay." Mary made a disagreeing sound in her throat and Eddie gently shook her. "Hey, you know he's okay. Deep down, in your soul you know he's okay."

"No, honestly, I don't Eddie," Mary replied softly, willing her voice not to break. "This feels so much worse than the last time I had a feeling something was wrong. For him to leave us at the hotel while we were still sleeping and to not return my calls isn't okay. It's not even in the same zip code as 'okay'."

"Then come back to Hawaii with us. Tell Steve and Dan--," Eddie began, but Mary cut him off.

"No!" Mary said more sharply than she meant. "No, I can't do that. What if it turns out to be nothing? Matt will be mad."

"What if it turns out to be something?" Eddie countered. "What if he's really in trouble? Matt would never forgive himself if anything happened to you or Joan."

Mary sighed. Eddie was right. If the smile Eddie was giving her meant what she thought it did, she didn't have to tell him that he was right.

"Come on, kid," Eddie said as he wrapped his arm over her shoulder and led her towards the ticket counter. "We'll get this sorted out without putting you in any danger."


	8. Winter

As Matt and the FBI agent he was talking to moved from the outside courtyard to the building behind them, he remembered the last time he was there. He was there with his family, Mary and Joan, and they got a picture in front of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. It was one of his favorites and the memory always brought a smile to his face. Being in New York in the winter was always something he loved to do.

The same couldn't be said this time. Thinking about being back without his family made him sick to his stomach, and not for the first time he thought about telling the FBI agent that he'd changed his mind and didn't want anything to do with them. Of course he knew he couldn't do that. If he did, his family, everyone he loved, would be in danger. More danger than they were in now.

Returning his attention back to the agent, he tried to concentrate on what he was being told, but everything sounded muted; like they were under water. Matt shook his head. Thoughts of his family, if they were still going to be there, would have to wait.


	9. Love

Danny really loved his brother but he didn't understand how he always found himself in the situations like he was currently in, and why he always felt he had to handle things on his own, keeping them a secret from those who could and would help him if he just asked. Now, as he and Steve looked over the contents of the flash drive that was sent to him, he's going to have to have a serious talk to his brother and the kinds of people he works for.

"I haven't exactly figured out everything your brother stumbled on, but this" Steve said as he pointed out a specific document, "looks like a partial list of ICE agents, but its a few years old."

"How can you tell how old it is?" Danny asked. "There are no dates or anything on it."

Steve pointed to two names on the list. "Don't those look familiar?"

"Monica Jensen and Jeff Morrison..." Danny read out loud. "Yeah, they're familiar alright. What's the list for? Just names of agents that hasn't been updated in at least three years?"

"I don't know," Steve replied with a shake of his head. "But we'll find out, soon."


	10. Chocolate

"How do you think Mary is dealing with all of this?" Danny asks as they waited at the airport for the arrival of their family.

The night before Mary called to say that there would be two other people coming with her and that she'd explain when they arrived. Danny tried to get Mary to say who the other people were, but Mary wouldn't say and Grace, his precious Monkey, laughed and said it was a surprise but that he'd like it...a lot.

"You mean if she knows what's going on?" Steve asked. "She's probably pissed. And rightfully so, I'd say."

"I'm surprised she didn't fly back to look for him," Danny said by way of answering Steve's question. "I remember what happened last time. It wasn't close to war, but a pissed off Mary is something I never want to see again."

Steve snorted. Mary definitely had a temper, but she was also vindictive and he knew that Matt was still making it up to her for the first time he kept something big and potentially dangerous that was work related.

"That's why I insisted we stop for some chocolate Coco Puffs," Steve replied. "They're going to be hungry and Joan will likely be cranky."

"That's where I come in," Danny said with a smile. "Second to Matt, I have the gift of keeping her happy."

"And me sane," Mary added from behind them, "You are talking about Joan, right?"

Danny and Steve turned towards the voice. How had they missed the notification about the arrival of the flight?

Smiling, Steve stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Mary in a tight hug. "I'm glad you're here, Mare."

Mary hugged back, laughing some. "It hasn't been that long since we've seen each other."

"Since before Deb and Leonard were married," Steve replied as he pulled away. "Where are my favorite nieces?"

"Right here, Uncle Steve!" Grace said as she carefully walked holding Joan's hands to keep the little girl from falling.


	11. Clothes

“Okay, explain,” Danny said once they arrived back at Steve’s house.

“Shouldn’t we at least wait until Mary is finished putting away her clothes?” Clara asked. “She’ll probably be able to better explain why your father and I are here.”

“And why Mattie isn’t, right?” Danny added rather flippantly at the same time Steve said, “That will probably be a while.”

“Daniel,” Eddie said, “that wasn’t necessary. We know Matt not being here is the reason your mother and I are here.”

“No, that’s not entirely true,” Mary said as she came down the stairs. Joan wasn’t with her, but they could hear some Disney movie playing to keep her daughter and Grace busy until they have lunch.

“Clara and Eddie are here because I was going to go back to Jersey to look for Matt,” Mary continued.

Steve and Danny turned to look at her. “Mare...why would you do that?” Steve asked.

Mary gave him an unimpressed look. “My boyfriend leaves me, his daughter and niece at the hotel with nothing but a lame note saying that ‘something important at work came up’ and hasn’t answered or returned any of my calls and you expect me to not go look for him?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not to have posted this yesterday. I had it written in my head, then fell asleep and when I woke up, I was too lazy to type it up.
> 
> I will have the next chapter up today, too. Have to stay on top of this and finish this out!


	12. Holiday

Matt hated waking up early for work, especially when he didn’t have work and was supposed to be in Hawaii with his family on vacation.

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he pushed the blankets off his body, got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. Earlier, he received a wake up call alerting him that in an hour he would be picked up.

In one hour he would start the first of many long days with the FBI agents going over the information he found and telling about the other anomalies he’d come across that led him to them.

**+=+**

They had been at work since seven and it was nearing noon. Matt finally convinced the agents to take a break so he could get something to eat and hopefully get rid of the headache he could feel coming on.

Matt had just sat down in the cafeteria with a plate of decent looking lasagna and an even better looking bowl of salad, when he was joined by two of the agents he’d been working with.

“Come on, guys,” Matt said with a sigh. “Can’t I have lunch in peace for twenty minutes?”

“This isn’t about work,” Agent Parks said. "Well, not directly about work," he amended.

“Tell me, Mr. Williams,” Agent Mallone began, “do you happen to know where your family is?”

Matt’s head snapped up to meet Mallone’s eyes. Was the man threatening him or his family? “Yeah. I know we’re they’re at.”

“Are you sure?” Parks asked. “I mean, really sure?”

“My girlfriend, daughter and niece should be back in Hawaii by now,” Matt said. “That was our planned holiday vacation destination.”

“And...what about your parents?” Parks asked. “Were they going as well?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously made up the stuff about the FBI building, not that I didn't try to look online for the information, but I couldn't find it or I was looking in the wrong place. Oh well, this is all fiction anyway.


	13. Alien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playing catch up today. There will be 2 more chapter after this one, and then I'll be back on track!

Steve looked at Mary, a smile of sorts tugging at his lips and Mary raised her eyebrow.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Mary asked.

"Like what?" Steve replied. He looked at Danny, "Did I have one of those faces you claim I have?" Danny laughed and shrugged his shoulders so Steve looked back at Mary. "Well?"

"You're looking at me like I'm some sort of alien," Mary said. "Why?"

Steve shook his head. "No reason, but...you sounded almost like a Williams right then."

Clara and Eddie snorted at the same time Mary and Danny said, "Thanks."

"No, I mean it," Steve said. "You're passionate about something. I can't remember the last time you felt this strongly about something and let me know exactly how you felt."

"You're confident," Danny added. "When I first met you, you were all about rebelling against steve and what he was trying to do for you --"

"He was trying to run my life for me instead of supporting me," Mary cut in.

"That's true," Steve agreed. "I did do that, but I'm glad you didn't let me stop you from doing what you wanted and finding your way in life."

"Even if it is with my no-good brother," Danny added.

"Matthew is not 'no good'," Clara said. "He's been doing well and has really matured the last two years."

"With the exception of whatever he's gotten himself into now," Eddie amended.


	14. Foreign

Matt looked at the agents like they were speaking a foreign language. Or maybe he thought they thought he was speaking a foreign language. “Of course not!” he exclaimed. “How can you protect them if they aren’t at home?”

“Are you sure?” Parks repeated.

“Quit with the broken fucking record, act!” Matt spat. “I would know if they were taking a trip somewhere. They would have told me!”

“Like you told them…,” the agent mentioned offhandedly.

Matt glared at the agent. “I did what I had to do to protect him!” he said through gritted teeth. “I told you that I would help you in exchange for protecting my family.” He pushed his chair back harshly and stood up. “If you’re going to play some stupid games to see how far I’ll go, then I’ll leave now and let you figure out all this shit on your own!”

Agent Mallone quickly stood up. “That’s not what we’re doing,” he said placatingly. “”If you’ll still help us, we’ll still protect your family.”

Matt took a breath and crashed back into his chair with a hard thud. “I still don’t believe that they would leave like that.”

“We can show you the video footage?” Parks said. “It was how we confirmed what the detail on your parents said.”

Matt looked at the man with a glare. “Show me!” he demanded.


	15. Film

Mary takes a breath, squares her shoulders and looked from her brother to Danny and back again. If she was going to find out where her boyfriend was and what was going on with him, she needed to be honest with Steve and Danny.

"Right," she says. "Matt's not here. He left me a note saying there was an emergency at work that he had to go back for. When I got done talking to you yesterday I had already made up my mind I was going to go back to Jersey to look for him. I called Clara and Eddie to come out to fly with Joan and Grace here while I went to find Matt."

"She told Deb she was going to go back to Jersey and when your father and I arrived in Los Angeles, Deb filled me in," Clara added in. "Mary and I talked, but I didn't go so far as to try and convince her not to go off by herself."

"Nope. That was my job," Eddie chimed in. "When we got to the airport this morning, I had a talk with my favorite youngest daughter."

Mary huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. "I knew that he was right, so I came back with them." Mary looked at Steve, "I'm still determined to find out where he's at. He's due a major ass kicking from me when I find him."

"We're going to help you with that," Danny replied. "He's due an ass kicking from me too."

"We got a letter from Matt yesterday," Steve added. "It came by registered mail and in it was also a flash drive. He said that if anything happened to him, Mare or the baby, that we were to personally give the drive to a specific FBI agent in New York."

Clara made a soft distressing sound in the back of her throat, but otherwise didn't further comment.

"Without going into details about what is in the drive, we will say that Steve and I aren't going to wait for something to happen to Matt before we do anything about this," Danny pointed out, "but before we do that, we're going likely be spending a lot of time at the office sorting through everything."

"How much trouble is he in?" Eddied asked after a moment of silence.

"Right now, I don't know," Danny said truthfully. "I don't know who he was working for and why he has access to the documents he sent, but in the wrong hands a lot of people can be hurt."

**+=+**

"We have all the videos back in the office," Agent Parks said. "If you still don't believe us, you can call your parents and ask for yourself."

Matt stood up again and pushed his way passed the agent and walked out of the cafeteria. Agent Mallone sighed and shook his head. "Look, I know you hate being tied to this, but you've got to play it cool!"

Parks rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask to get transferred to this unit to babysit two-bit accountants!"

"Let's get one thing straight," Mallone said moving to stand in front of Parks, "no one asks to be transferred here and if anyone is being babysat, it's you!"

Parks stood up, ready to give the other agent a piece of his mind but Mallone smirked and pointed to one of the security cameras. "I would watch the next words that come out of your mouth. Remember, everything gets filmed here."

Mallone smirked as Parks deflated. He didn't know what the other agent had done to be transferred to his unit, but he wasn't lying when he implied that Parks was the one being babysat.

"Let's get going, Agent. We've got someone waiting for us to prove to him that we're not lying about his parents." Mallone said with a clap of his hands.


	16. Actor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're going to spend a bit of time in New York with Matt and his dealings with the FBI. Hmm what's going on there??

Parks had to hand it to the guy, he was playing the role of confused scared "good citizen" like a pro. Demanding for the video footage of his parents at the airport in New York and Los Angeles to be played over and over again hoping for something to tell him the video was a fake and that his parents were safe in their home being watched by a FBI detail like he was promised.

"I want to call them," Matt said hours later. He lost track of the number of times he watched the videos but he was finally beginning to accept that his parents were likely in Hawaii. But what of their protection? Steve and Danny wouldn't be able to protect Mary, Joan, Grace and themselves from whatever he'd gotten into.

"Here you go," Parks said pushing a cell phone towards Matt. "But make it fast. You still have to explain everything to us. The sooner you get that done, the sooner you'll be back with your family."

Matt quickly reached for the phone, but his fingers hesitated over over the keypad. He didn't know what he'd tell his parents if he called. They'd be able to tell he was lying, even over the phone. Calling Mary, Steve or Danny was also out of the question and he'd die before calling Grace and using her like that. His last resort was Mary's Aunt.

Quickly dialing the number he memorized long ago, he waited for the call to connect. "Hello?" a groggy voice asked.

Matt cursed when he realized the time. Deb was back to doing chemotherapy treatments and they always made her tried. He had just woken her up from a nap. "Sorry to bother you, Aunt Deb," Matt said, falsely cheerful. "I wanted to know if Mary was around?"

"No, she's already in Hawaii with your folks," Deb replied sounding more alert. "I have to tell you, kid, she's not happy with the disappearing act you pulled and your parents are worried too."

Matt sighed. "I bet they are. Look, can you not tell them I called?" he asked. "I'm almost finished here and want to surprise them."

"Sure thing kid," Deb easily replied. "Only if you promise not to do that again to Mary."

"I'll try my hardest," Matt said instead. "I'll let you get back to sleep. Again, sorry for waking you up."

Matt quickly ended the call and dropped the phone.

"Now do you believe us?" Parks asked bitterly.

"Yeah, I believe my folks are in Hawaii," Matt agreed. "They're still being protected, right?"

"Oh yeah," Parks said, barely hiding the sarcasm. "Undercover detail and everything. I just hope your sister's SEAL of a brother doesn't spot them and blow everything we're working on!"


	17. Key

Once Matt pulled himself together and accepted that his parents were now in Hawaii, he had to focus on explaining the information he'd found and why he thought there was shady work going on.

"But that doesn't make sense," one of the agents said. "This is part of a list of government assignments and the codenames of the agents who worked them. Why would your boss have this?"

Matt shrugged his shoulders. "I found them when I was working on the financial analysis of the Orion Group."

"What is this Orion Group?" another agent asked. "I've seen their name on several documents, many of which weren't strictly financially related."

"They deal with adoptions. Mainly from South America and Europe," Mallone chimed in.

"How did you know that?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I deal with some of the background checks," Mallone stated. "But that doesn't explain why your boss has them."

"I only deal with the financials and pay attention to stuff that doesn't look right," Matt replied. "And for an adoption agency to have this much cash flow? That doesn't seem right."

"So we have unusual cash flow through an adoption agency that operates worldwide and a list of Government assignments and the codenames of the agents who worked them," Mallone summed up. "Now we have to figure out the key piece that connects both things together...and why your employer has them." Mallone added with a glance Matt's direction.

"You make it sounds so easy," Matt snarked.


	18. Picture

It was a couple of days later when Steve and Danny got a break they needed in figuring out what was going on with Matt. They’d taken the flash drive and loaded the contents into Five-0’s secure servers and began sifting through the information. Chin, Kono and Lou lent a hand when there wasn’t other cases for them to work on.

“I think I got something!” Chin exclaimed as he walked out of his office to the computer table in the middle of the bull pen. He quickly taped on the touch screen top and brought up what he found.

“What have you got?” Danny asked as he and the other joined Chin around the table.

“Some hidden jpegs in a couple of the files,” he said as the pictures popped up. “They look like a mixture of surveillance pictures and nanny-cam like pictures from a hotel room.”

“Do we know who any of the people are?” Steve asked.

“Considering the list of names you found, I started running facial recognition so we should be putting names to faces in no time,” Chin replied. “I’ve already picked out Monica Jensen and Jeff Morrison in a handful of the images, but there are over 50 to go through.”

“There was only what...twenty-five names on the list, right?” Danny asked. Steve nodded his head. “Then who are on the other pictures?”

“We’ll find that out soon enough.” Chin said.

There was a brief pause when several _Access Denied_ screens popped up on many of the images. “I think, though...we might need to loop the FBI in now,” Chin added. “Four agents were in twelve of the picture,” his fingers quickly typing on the table top, “I’ve cross-referenced the names to the list of ICE agent names and none are listed.”

“Okay, what are the agents names?” Steve asked. “I can maybe make a few discrete calls to get more information.”

Chin read the names, “Jennifer Starr, Mary Center, Julian Parks and Enrico Mallone.”

Steve and Danny’s eyes snapped to Chin. “What was that last name?”

“Enrico Mallone,” Chin repeated as he looked from Danny to Steve. From the looks they were giving him, he know something had changed. “Do you know him?”

Danny hesitantly shook his head. “No, but he was the name of the agent Matt said we were to give the flash drive to if anything happened to him, Mary or Joan.”


	19. Hat

They had developed something of a routine since being in Hawaii that last two days and Mary was grateful for that. She didn't know how long she'd have to be there, or how long Clara and Eddie would be able to be with them, but she was going to make the most of it. It was her vacation, after all. Just because her boyfriend wasn't there to spend it with his family, didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it as much as she could.

"So what are we doing today?" Clara asked as she made breakfast for Mary and Eddie. Grace was already back in school, having been dropped off by Steve and Danny when they left for work.

"What would you like to do?" Mary asked. "I'm game for anything."

"So long as it's baby friendly, right?" Eddie asked with a smile.

"Yes," Mary laughed. "So long as it's baby friendly."

"What about a bit of shopping?" Clara suggested. She held up a hand to stop Eddie from groaning, "I know you don't like shopping, but everything else I want to do, I'd like for Steve, Danny and Grace to be able to do it with us."

"You have a point there." Eddie agreed. "What about Chinatown? Isn't that one restaurant you like there?" Eddie directed the question to his wife.

Clara laughed. "There are several restaurants here that I like."

Eddie rolled his eyes at the comment. "Okay, I walked into that one. So, are we going to Chinatown?"

Clara and Mary looked at each other and Mary shrugged. "I'm okay with that."

The group finished breakfast before going upstairs to get ready for their day out. Mary prepared Joan's bag, making sure she grabbed the sunscreen and their flowered hats and met Clara and Eddie downstairs by the front door.

"All ready to go," she said. "We'll just have to call Steve or Danny to let them know our plans."

"Already on it, kid." Eddie said holding up his phone.


	20. Columns

They pulled up another spreadsheet and the agent, Matt thinks his name is Boxx or Boxer, squinted at it, as if the contents were written in a foreign language. Maybe in the case it wasn't so far from the truth; math and numbers aren't everyone's strong suit.

Before the agent could ask for clarification, Matt spoke up. "This is the standard ten column spreadsheet that we use. Other companies use more or less, depending on how detailed they wanted them," he began. "Since I was hired to do this for Orion, I used their five column sheet, but started with my original ten columns."

Matt pulled up the spreadsheet in question, and it was magnified on the overhead screen. "The column I highlighted is the one that's out of place - Orion insisted that it not be included even though it's standard. Especially if it's going to be apart of an information packet for a Board of Directors meeting - like they said this was going to be."

"Then shouldn't this be something for the IRS to look at?" an agent asked.

"Oh, believe me, they are," Mallone stated from the back of the room. "They're waiting for us to do the heavy lifting."

"And this...number mumble-jumble is considered heavy lifting?" Parks asked.

Matt refrained from rolling his eyes. "This is money laundering in nearly it's simplest form. For whatever reason, someone at Orion is withholding this," Matt pointed to the highlighted section, "information from the Directors. Like I said, I know adoptions are expensive, but this is an insane amount of money."

"Agent Mallone, could we also be looking at human trafficking since Orion is an adoption agency?" yet another agent asked.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions," Mallone said, everyone could hear the unspoken but, "so we're going to first find out where this money came from and go from there."


	21. Towel

As they walked around Chinatown, the popped in and out of little shops looking at various knick knacks. Clara bought a few things to add to her collection, one that was started when Mary was still a flight attendant and going to different countries and they would move on to the next shop.

They exited a shop with a few bags and May nearly bumped into a couple of men who were passing by. "Oh, excuse me," she apologizes. The men don't respond, but give her a hard look before continuing on. "Rude," Mary later mumbles under her breath once she's caught up to Clara and Eddie.

Several feet behind them, the men that Mary bumped into are now following them. She doesn't notice right away, but a couple of times she stopped to look behind her, then shake her head when she doesn't see anything.

"Everything okay?" Eddie asks when he notices her stop for a third time.

"Yeah, I guess," Mary replies with a shrug. "I just got the feeling we were being followed. Kind of silly being surround by people and all."

Eddie gave her a smile and motioned for her to walk in front of him next to Clara so that he could walk behind them.

After a couple of hours of walking around, they decide to have lunch at a restaurant that has outdoor seating. As Mary is moving the stroller with Joan in it to a safe spot, she freezes and looks around. This time she notices them; the men who she bumped into coming out of the last shop they were in. They were doing a pretty horrible job at hiding themselves and when the shorter of the two men notice she's looking their way, he nudges his companion and they quickly pick up a towel a street vendor is selling and act like they're inspecting it.

Mary doesn't want to mention anything to Clara or Eddie, but she's got a bad feeling about the men she's spotted. Biting her lip, she taps Eddie's arm to get his attention. "Hey, Pop, I think it'd be a good idea for us to call Steve and Danny and ask them to join us."

After looking at her with a somewhat blank face, Mary hopes he picked up on how she phrased the sentence and will call Danny. Thankfully it's Clara who agrees, whether or not she's picked up on Mary's apprehension.


	22. Hate

As Clara reached for her phone to call Danny and Steve, two other men pulled chairs to their table and sat down. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mrs. Williams," one of the men said. "I would hate for you to lose your husband."

Mary looked up and noticed a red dot on the center of Eddie's chest and gasped.

"Or your daughter and granddaughter," the other man added as two more dots appeared on Mary and Joan, but from the opposite direction as the dots on Eddie.

"Who are you?" Clara all but choked out. "What do you want?"

"Who we are doesn't matter, Mrs. Williams," the first man said. "As for what we want...well tell your son to stop looking into us and our organization and everything will be okay."

Clara was about to protest and say she didn't know what they were talking about when the first man spoke. "Don't bother denying it," he said. "If we managed to find you here, just imagine what else we know."

The red dots disappeared as the men stood up and left the outdoor area. Mary quickly grabbed her phone typing up a description of the two men who just left, but as she turns to get a better look of the men at the street vendor's stand, she sees one of them turning to follow the two men leaving the restaurant while the other is crossing the street heading their way.


	23. Ornament

Just as Mary was putting her phone down after sending Steve the text messages, the man who was making his way across the street stopped next to their table. The phone vibrated seconds later and Mary glanced at it to see that Steve replied that he was on his way and for her to stay where she was.

“Mr. and Mrs. Williams, are you okay?” the man asked in a rush. He looked at Mary, “are you okay, Miss McGarrett?”

“We’re fine,” Clara said as the same time that Mary demanded, “Who the hell are you?! Why have you been following us?”

“My name is Agent Williams,” at Mary’s snort he produced his identification, which indeed showed his name as being Samuel Williams and he was an agent with the FBI.

“Why is the FBI following me and my in-laws?” Mary asked as she pushed the badge and identification towards the man. “More importantly who the fuck we were those men who threatened to kill us?!”

“Mama, no no word!” Joan said as she kicked out her leg, making contact with Mary’s leg.

Mary gently but firmly grabbed Joan's leg to stop her from kicking, but never took her eyes off the man in front of her. "I'm waiting," she said.

Agent Williams looked around and sighed. "This isn't the best place to have this conversation. Those men could still be around."

"Oh great," Mary said sarcastically, "then you can explain to my brother why we're being followed around and hope that he doesn't hurt you too badly."

"Mary...," Eddie admonished gently. "I'm sure the agent has a perfectly good explanation and it would be good for Steve and Danny to hear it."

Before Mary could respond, Steve and Danny rushed through the restaurant and stopped next to their table. "I got your message, Mare. What's going on?"

"I don't know, Steve. Agent Williams, here, was just about to explain," Mary replied.

Instantly Steve and Danny looked at the other man. "Agent Williams?" Danny asked incredulously.

The agent nodded his head and pulled out his identification again. Steve took it in his hands to inspect it before giving it to Danny. "Okay, Agent Williams. What are you doing here?"

"My partner and I have been assigned to protect Mr. and Mrs. Williams at the request of Matthew Williams," the agent said. "Look, is there someplace more private we can go to discuss this? And it would be better for all involved if your family was in a secure location."

Without a second thought, Steve nodded his head. "Ten minutes at Five-0 Headquarters at Aliiolani Hale."

The agent nodded his head and Steve and Danny ushered Clara, Eddie, Mary and Joan out of the restaurant and towards their cars.

+=+

Matt worked with the agents well into the night until he was seeing dancing Hawaiian ornaments floating across the overhead projector screen. He snorted at the sight is brain conjured up and shook his head. His brain was shot and he needed sleep. He also needed food, but he feared he'd face plant into whatever he was eating.

"Look, can we pick this up after I get some sleep?" Matt all but begged. "I'm seeing things when I look at the screen and everything's a jumbled mess."

Agent Mallone looked at his watch and agreed with Matt. "You have a good idea, Mr. Williams. A car will take you back to your hotel and pick you up in eight hours."

"Oh goodie," Matt said as he gathered the papers in front of him. "I don't suppose I can talk you into making it ten hours so I can get breakfast too."

"Breakfast is a luxury we don't have, Mr. Williams," Agent Parks said. "Be ready at eight a.m."


	24. Ocean

Mary sat in Steve office, watching him, Danny, the rest of Five-0, Clara and Eddie talk with Agent Williams about whatever was going on with Matt. She wanted to be out there, but right now, she was with Joan, making sure she was truly asleep before joining the group.

Mary pulled the diaper bag off the handle of the stroller and rummaged around in it for Joan’s stuffed seal she hardly slept without while with Steve. The stuffed animal had tiny speakers and played whatever soft music was loaded into it. Lately, the selection at been soft ocean sounds, when Joan was first born, it was a recording of Mary’s heartbeat that emanated from the creature.

Placing the seal next to her sleeping daughter, Mary stood up and walked out of the office. Glancing back briefly to see that Joan was still asleep, Mary pulled the office door closed.

“She asleep?” Danny asked when Mary stood next to him.

Mary nodded her head. “We’re a bit late with her nap, so hopefully she’ll be out for about an hour.” She looked at everyone around the computer table. “So, what’s going on with Matt?”

“Not one to beat around the bush, I see,” Agent Williams said. “I don’t know the details of what Mr. Williams knows that would warrant the protection of his family. I am following Agent Mallone’s orders.”

“And your partner?” Danny asked. “You mentioned that the two of you were assigned to this protection.”

Agent Williams nodded his head. “When we saw what happened at the restaurant, we called into our boss to see what he wanted us to do. He told us to make contact with you as well as to find out who the men were. That’s what my partner is doing right now. I will then be contacted by Agent Mallone or my partner when they know who the men were.”

“How good of a look did you get of the men?” Steve asked. He directed the question to Agent Williams because he had the description that Mary sent him.

“Good enough that I’d know them again if I saw them,” Williams said confidently.

“Chin, bring up the pictures from the file,” Steve said.

“What pictures?” Mary asked at the same time Williams asked, “What file?”

Steve didn’t answer either question. Now wasn’t the time for that, especially considering he still needed to contact Agent Mallone in light of the actual pictures they found within the documents that Matt sent to Danny.

Once the pictures were on the screen, Mary and Agent Williams went through them in groups of ten. They’d gone through nearly thirty pictures before Mary and Agent Williams pointed to the same picture. It was of a group of eight men sitting in front of a non-descript building that could be anywhere if it weren't for view of the Empire State Building behind it.

“Those were the men,” Mary said.

“These are surveillance pictures,” Agent Williams said. “How did you get them?”

“How we got them isn’t important just yet,” Steve replied. “Do you recognize them? Can you put names to these faces?” Williams shook his head. “Then we need to talk with Agent Mallone.”

Williams nodded his head. “I’ll get him on the phone.”

Steve shook his head. “In person.”

“Agent Mallone is working on a case at the moment and can’t come out here,” Williams said.

“That’s okay. Detective Williams and I will be going to him,” Steve said.

“What?” the others in the room said.

“It’s what Matt said needed to be done if something happened,” Danny said. “Threatening the lives of Ma, Pop, Mary and Joan is something.”


	25. Naked

Matt woke with a groan. His body and mind felt so sluggish, almost like he was hung over. He knew that he hasn't had any alcohol in months, but with how it was feeling, he very well could have gone on a bender when he left.

Left? Where had he gone? The last thing he remembered was leaving the office where he was working with the FBI.

FBI? Panic spiked in his mind. He knew he was working with the FBI, but couldn't remember why.

Through his panic, he could hear talking. He didn't recognize any of the voices and his eyes didn't seem like they wanted to open just yet.

Then the talking stopped, or became more of a hushed whisper. He was about to speak out when he felt someone approach him and start to speak.

"Are you awake, Mr. Williams?" a disembodied voice asked.

Eyes still closed, Matt turned his head towards the voice. "What?"

The air shifted in front of his face and there were hands touching him. Fingers prying his eyelids open before a bright light aimed at them. "Ugh! Stop! I'm awake!"

"Ahh, good!" the man said. Matt could almost tell he sounded pleased that he was awake. "I'm going to need you to open your eyes, though."

Matt pried his eyes open and lifted his hand to rub the grit out them. Once he felt marginally more awake, he looked around. He wasn't in his hotel room. He wasn't in a room he recognized at all.

"Where I am!?" Matt demanded as he quickly sat up in the bed. He felt more cold air prickle his skin and he looked down to see that he was naked but for a strip of terrycloth towel draped over his groin that slid down when he moved. Grabbing at the material, Matt turned the direction of the voice. "Why am I naked?"


	26. Hair

Agent Mallone ran a hand through his disheveled hair. He didn’t know what happened, but everything seemed to be falling apart.

One of his agents had gone missing, word from his boss that the Williams family had been threatened and that he was to expect two very pissed off _cops_ from Hawaii later in the day.

“Starr! I need those phone records and bank statements!” Mallone called out. “And I need them yesterday!” He slammed his office door causing the plaques and frames on the wall to rattle.

Minutes later, there was an almost timid knock on his door and he motioned for the person to enter. The door opened in Jennifer Starr and Mary Center stood at the threshold. “What have you got?”

Taking that as their permission to enter, they walked through, Mary closing the door behind her. “We have the papers you asked for.” Starr said as she put them on Mallone’s desk. Mallone picked them up to sort through them.

“And the agent who was sent to pick up Williams has called in….,” Center added. She looked to her fellow agent, who nodded so she continued. “He said that Matthew Williams is not in his hotel room.”

“He’s what?!” Mallone bellowed, the papers floating from his hand.

“He, ummm, never keyed in last night,” Center said.

“Sir, Agent Parks never dropped him off at his hotel,” Starr added. “The phone records...for Julian Parks had him in contact with one of the top members of Orion...as recent as yesterday morning.”

Starr waited for the information to sink in with Mallone before she continued. “I did some...creative...digging and found a bank account linking Parks and this top member of Orion.”

"Parks and this person from Orion are working together?" Mallone questioned.

"It's very likely that's the case," Starr said. "I was able to speak with Commander McGarrett, Matthew Williams' girlfriend's brother, and he emailed me a picture and list of names. Our names, along with Julian Parks' name was on the list. The picture was a group of men, one of whom is Julian Parks' brother."

"You're throwing all this information at me," Mallone said. "I need you to break it down for me."

"Julian and Roman Parks are likely involved in human trafficking along with an unknown person or persons at Orion," Starr said. "Roman Parks was identified as one of the men who threatened the life of Matthew Williams' family."

"I think...we, Jennifer and I, that is, think that Julian has been feeding information about our investigation to the Orion people as well as his brother Roman," Mary added. "Agent Williams and his partner were forced to break cover when they witnessed this yesterday."

"And what of Matthew Williams?" Mallone asked, finally understanding what was being told to him.

"Parks, Julian Parks that is," Center began, "never took Matthew Williams to his hotel room yesterday."


	27. Action

From the time they left Hawaii to the time they arrived in New York, there was a whirlwind of action. FBI agents trying to locate Julian Parks and Matt, FBI agents tailing and arresting Roman Parks and the other involved with the now confirmed human trafficking ring and Agent Mallone trying to figure out who at Orion was the head of the human trafficking organization.

Though his office door was closed, Mallone could hear the yelling coming from the other room. It was nearing an hour that it had been going on, and truth be told, he was a bit afraid of the newcomers who were now helping with the assignment. The tall dark one with muscles and a glare that could set fire to a stack of papers and his companion...his partner who was currently doing the yelling. Who he was yelling at, Mallone didn't know, but he was glad it wasn't directed at him.

Until his office door burst open and the yelling intensified. "I heard you're the one I should be yelling at instead of those poor schmucks over there," Danny yelled with a wave of his hand behind him and the room he just left.

"Detective Williams?" Mallone questioned lamely.

"You knew! You damn well knew one of your agents was dirty yet you still kept him on the case!" Danny continued yelling. "And now I hear you still don't know where my brother is! What the hell kind of investigators are you?!"

“Detective Williams, please calm down,” Mallone said and winced because he knew those were sure fire words to make the man even more angry, if that was possible.

“Calm down? You want me to calm down?” Danny questioned incredulously. “What good is that going to do? you’re still not going to know where my brother is and you’re still not going to know who at Orion is behind all of this!”

Mallone went to speak but promptly closed his mouth when Danny held up a warning finger at him. He’d never had this thorough a chewing out ever in his career as an agent, especially the one currently in charge of things.


	28. Religion

"Tell me, Mr. Williams," the man said as he pulled up a chair in front of Matt. "Are you at all a religious man? I ask, because I don't believe in God or any higher being, but in my line of work, I like to be...accommodating of those who are with me...for however long they're with me."

Matt didn't respond to the man. He learned after the last few times of talking back that he ended up in more pain than talking back was worth.

"Ahh, are we not talking today?" the man asked. "Pity. I was hoping that we could get something nice on tape for your family. Perhaps some parting words for your girlfriend and daughter. It'll be the last they see of you, after all."

Matt wished he had a way with words like Danny to come up with a clever response, or strong enough like Steve to spit at the man and tell him to go to hell or something intimidating, but all he could do was stare at the man.

The man he finally realized was in charge and had seen at the last meeting he had with the people from Orion. Matt tilted his head and squinted his eyes. He knew he'd seem him somewhere else too, but he couldn't place it.

Without realizing it, Matt began to speak. "I'm not at all religious, but you'll likely go to hell before you get away to safety."

The man smirked at Matt. "I wouldn't be so sure about this. No one knows where we are, and by the time they do find this place, all that'll be left is your corpse." He moved to the side so that one of the other men set up a tripod and place a camera on it. "Are you boys all set up? This is going directly to Mallone, right?"

"Yeah, Boss, it is," a guy replied.

"I hope you're ready for your close up, Williams." the man spoke from behind Matt.

"I've hacked their system and they should now be seeing this," the cameraman said.

"FBI. I have something you might have been looking for..." the man spoke, "and I don't mean just Williams."

A door opened on the left and another figure was dragged into the room. Matt looked down at his feet and saw Agent Parks. His hands were bound and his face bloodied


	29. Lips

Steve had the bottle of water halfway to his lips when the wall of screens went blank for some seconds. Quiet murmuring could be heard before the screens came back on showing the same image. Matt sitting in a chair looking pissed and scared.

"Danny!" Steve yelled before running to the nearest computer and roughly pushing the person out of the way. At Steve's yell, Danny and Agent Mallone rushed out of the office and stopped next to Steve.

"FBI. I have something you might have been looking for..." came the disembodied voice from the video, "and I don't mean just Williams."

All too soon, another person fell limply to the floor next to Matt. Mallone gasped. "Parks..."

"Do I have your attention Mallone?" the voice asked again.

"Is that live?" Danny asked.

"It is," an agent next to Danny responded. "We're tracing it now."

Steve furiously typed on the keyboard in front of him and brought up a separate secure video to connect to Five-0 in Hawaii.

"We've got you Steve. Jerry is already tracing the feed," Chin said when his face popped up on the screen.

"I don't think they can hear us," Steve said, "so we should be able to talk freely."

"Oh...I wouldn't be so sure about that," the voice laughed. "Amazing what can be done with wireless connections and the proper authorization."

"Where's the video coming from?!" Mallone demanded of the agents in the room.

"I can't get a fix sir. It's currently pinging all over Europe and Asia," an agent said.

"Have fun chasing me through the rabbit hole," the voice said. "You'll be going at it for a long time."

"I've got it narrowed down to someplace on the East Coast," Chin replied.

"Gotta do better than that Chin!" Danny said at the same time as Mallone yelling, “What do you want?!”

“What do I want?” the voice repeated. “Like I told Williams’ family, I want you to stop looking into my business. My little special agent here should have done his job better and none of this would be happening!”

"That's it?" Mallone asked.

"For now," the voice replied. "Later tonight I might be amenable to telling you where you can find these two."

"In what condition?" Mallone question.

The voice laughed again. "That depends on how quickly you do your end."

Typing on the keyboard, Steve sent a message to Chin.

_they can hear us. no audio communication._

_got it, boss._ Came Chin's reply. _narrowed down to tri-state area. He typed again._

Steve grabbed a pad of paper and scribbled a note on it before handing it to Mallone.

_tri-state area. narrowing down now._

A flashing on the screen got Steve's attention. _GOT IT! warehouse on Staten Island. sending you and Danny info_

Steve’s and Danny’s phones vibrated with the information from Chin. Quickly getting Mallone’s attention, Danny showed it to him and he nodded his head.

"You got it," Mallone agreed.

The video feed cut out and the agents scrambled to bring it back up. "I didn't get it Agent Mallone," one of the agents sighed pushing away her keyboard.

"We already got it," Mallone replied. "Starr, get the teams together. We're going out!"

Agent Starr stared at the superior agent. "Just like that, sir?"

"Just like that," Mallone said. "And I think I know who's behind it, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter to go!! hopefully I can wrap it up in a way that will lead to the sequel I have planned (but won't get to until I finish my other writing obligations)


	30. History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also for [](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=1_million_words)[1_million_words](http://www.livejournal.com/community/1_million_words/)’s mini-bingo square _Parking Lot_

The staging area for the raid and rescue was a parking lot on the far side of the property the warehouse was located on. Agent Mallone requested that the Staten Island SWAT Team set up a perimeter around the warehouse they identified as the one holding Matt and the FBI Agent Parks. Agent Mallone's teams of agents where finalizing the details of the raid while they waited final confirmation from the SWAT Team that they had eyes on the people they needed.

Arguing behind him caught Mallone attention and he turned to see Danny talking on the phone, trying to keep his voice down, but failing by a long shot. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to the screen he was looking at. There was a split screen video showing in real-time. One was a satellite imagining of the warehouse and the other was tapped into the warehouses security video.

"Agent Mallone, we've got the building surrounded," the SWAT team leader said. "We've also detected movement in the far end of the building. I think they're packing to move out."

"If they leave, hold them!" Mallone shouted. "Don't let them escape and don't let them back into the building!"

The SWAT leader confirmed the Agent's orders and relayed it to his team. Now they waited.

+=+=+

"Have you found him yet?" Mary asked Danny over the phone.

"Mary, didn't Steve tell you he would call when this is finished?" Danny asked.

"Well, yes, but it's been hours and Steve's not answering his phone or replying to texts," Mary said. "Is Matt not there or something? Do I have to come down there?"

Before Danny could reply, Steve took the phone from him. "Mare, I told you we'd call when we got Matt! Stop calling and texting! We're about to leave out!" He ended the call and thrust the phone back to Danny. "Turn it off. No more distractions."

Danny did as Steve said. Not because it was an order, but because he was right; having the phone on was a distraction, even if the ringer was on silent.

+=+=+

"We're ready to go out now," Mallone said. "SWAT's all set up and said there's movement. We want to get to them before they leave or have the chance to do anything to the hostages."

The teams in the staging area loaded up into the SUVs they came in and made the five minute ride to the warehouse. Staten Island PD would be hanging back until they were called on.

As they were pulling up to the warehouse, gunfire could be heard. It was close, but at the same time it sounded like it was some distance away.

"Three men came out firing!" a SWAT member said over the comms. "Others heading to front entrance."

Mallone gave the order for everyone to take the building. There were yells to watch for friendly fire and search for the hostages.

In total, six men were wounded, ten others arrested, including the one that Mallone was certain was the head of Orion and responsible for holding Matthew Williams and Julian Parks. Staten Island PD was called in to help search the warehouse for another gunmen as well as to find the hostages. There was three floors to check including what looked to be underground storage of some sort.

+=+=+

Mallone paced in front of the men who had been cuffed and were sitting on a bench outside the warehouse. "Where are they?" he asked. They didn't respond. He didn't think they would.

"Okay, easier question," Mallone began again as he stopped in front of one of the men. "I made it to the bottom of your rabbit hole, Carlton Eugene."

The man looked up and smirked. "So you have," he said. "But you'll never find them."

Minutes later there was a yell of, "We found them!" and Mallone looked at the cuffed men, "Take them away!" He walked away as the police officers came to lead the men away.

Joining the other FBI agents, he looked over the papers they'd found in one of the get away cars. "It's pretty detailed stuff about what's been going on at Orion. Everyone involved here and around the world. There's some coded stuff along the lines of what Matthew Williams brought to us, but we'll be able to figure it out."

"Great!" Mallone said. "Let's pack this up and head back to the office."

"What about Parks?" an agent asked.

"He's in the hospital. He'll be dealt with later." Mallone replied curtly.

+=+=+

Steve purposefully waited to call Mary to let her know they'd found Matt. It wasn't to be mean, but Matt had asked him not to tell her right away. He was still out of it from the pain medication he was given on his way to the hospital.

It was about three hours later when the doctor said it was okay for him to have visitors. Steve turned his phone back on and called Mary. After she yelled at him for nearly ten minutes, she said she, Clara and Eddie would be at the hospital as soon as Eric came to watch Joan.

Returning to Matt's room, Steve overheard the brothers talking.

"Mattie, you know I love you, but this has got to stop," Danny said as he lightly tapped on the side of the bed. "I know you're trying hard not to get in trouble, but maybe it's time for a change. You're killing the family. You literally almost got them killed."

Matt cringed. "I know. I heard the guys talking about what they did and it made me sick."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Steve asked. "This is the second time something like this has happened and you swore, on penalty of being castrated by Mary, that you wouldn't keep anything from her."

Matt winced at that. It'd been almost ten days since he last saw Mary or Joan and he missed them. "I didn't tell her because I wanted them safe. The FBI was supposed to keep her safe."

"You may have had good intentions, but that's not good enough for her," Steve said. "When I talked to her she was mad, hurt and scared."

Before Matt could reply, a nurse came in to shoo them out. "Come on. Out you go. You can come back in a couple of hours after he's rested."

"Ma, Pop and Mary should be here by then," Danny commented as he stood up to leave the room.

+=+=+

Matt doesn't know how long he's been sleeping, but when he starts to come to, it's to Mary talking beside him and she's probably been going at it for a while.

"I don't understand why you keep doing this to me," Mary said. "I know you don't go out looking for trouble or whatever, but being with you is getting more dangerous than I thought it would."

Matt's heartbeat picked up at hearing her say that. _'She's breaking up with me?'_ he thinks to himself.

"I don't ever want to be in the position I was in with not knowing where you were and having my life and Joanie's life threatened because of you and whatever work you happen to be doing."

"Mary...," Matt finally managed to whisper. "Mary...what are you saying?"

Mary shakes her head. "I can't do this anymore. You need to get your life together and I need to not feel like we can't be safe around you."

"But...we have a history together," Matt replied.

"Yeah, I know," Mary responded in agreement. She looked at him, eyes watery with tears. "It's because of that history that I'm doing this. Not for long, or at least I hope not. Just long enough for you to sort out whatever you need to do."

Matt takes a shuddering breath. "So we're breaking up."

It's a statement but Mary hears the question. "No, just taking a break." She leans over the side of the bed and whispers, “I still love you, Matthew Williams.” She softly kisses his lips. “Nothing will change that.”


End file.
